Are passive preamps better?

Another vote for active. I've owned a couple of passive units which sounded so "clean and open" on initial hook up I was impressed. But ultimate lack of drive and dynamics always caused me to return to an active unit.

There is one significant value to owning an inexpensive passive unit (can be assembled with <$15 for a stereo pot, two pair of female RCA jacks, some wire and a small box) -- that is to test the transparency of any "active" preamp under audition. A good unit should be as open sounding (lacking in distortion) as the test mule passive box.

Also, I agree with Sam Tellig that a "passive preamp" is an oxymoron term.

Eldartford

Albertporter...You criticize a lack of "enhancement from the original signal." Wouldn't that be *distortion* of the original signal? Pleasant perhaps, but not "transparent".

I don't consider great gain, improved dynamics, vivid contrast and improved bandwidth as distortion. In fact, that's exactly what I'm looking for in my system.

In our group, tests between state of the art passive against excellent preamps (RE: Manley Steelhead, ARC REF, Aesthetix Callisto, Audio Note, etc) the active always won.

I'm suprised that at least the with this group, it seems more like 80/20 for the active - not that it necessarily means anything, but it does seems to be some form of consensus amongst different listeners who have experience with both approaches; but eventually, you really have to try it to know if the passive works for you.

Pubul57 got it right. The only thing I would add is when discussing passive preamps, Placette is in a class of it's own.

No other passive is simular in design or parts to a Placette.

Hence no other preamp sounds like a Placette.

IMHO and a great many others, anyone saying they've tried passive preamps without trying a Placette, really has no idea just how good a passive preamp can sound.

Don't take my word for it. Order one, and you'll get a 30 money back guarantee to find out for yourself.

All preamps will add a coloration. Recording Engineers know that instictively when going to grab Neve, API, SSL, Manley, etc. Most peoples experiences with passives aren't that pleasant due to impedence mismatching and the neccesity for high quality internal components. Done right it works well. My home system still uses a "dual mono" PS audio passive that I keep going back to again and again for it's sheer pleasant musicality.
If you want great sound with little thought or effort avoid the passives and pick up a Manley.